Titolo: Discovering Complexity: Decomposition and Localization As Strategies in Scientific Research
Editore: Princeton Univ Pr
Data di pubblicazione: 1993
Lingua: Inglese
ISBN 10: 0691087628
ISBN 13: 9780691087627
Rilegatura: Hardcover
Condizione: Good
Condizione della sovraccoperta: No Jacket

Descrizione articolo

Riassunto

Discovering Complexity offers an account of scientific discovery that aims to be psychologically and historically realistic. Drawing on cases from a number of life sciences, including biochemistry, genetics, and neuroscience, this study of the dynamics of theory development focuses on two psychological heuristics, decomposition and localization. William Bechtel and Robert Richardson identify a number of "choice-points" that scientists confront in developing mechanistic explanations and describe how different choices result in divergent explanatory models.
According to Bechtel and Richardson's analysis, decomposition is the attempt to differentiate components of a system, while localization assigns responsibility for specific tasks to these components. The book examines in detail the usefulness of these heuristics in biological science, but also discusses their fallibility: underlying their use is the sometimes false assumption that nature is significantly decomposable and hierarchical. When a system does not appear to be decomposable, a classic response has been to abandon the pursuit of mechanistic explanation and to settle for accurate descriptions of phenomena. More recently, with advances in mathematical modeling, an alternative has emerged. Described in this work is an approach to explanation that appeals to interactions between simple components, rather than assigning functions to individual components.

Contenuti

	Preface
Pt. I	Scientific Discovery and Rationality
Ch. 1	Cognitive strategies and Scientific Discovery	3
1	Rationalizing Scientific Discovery	3
2	Procedural Rationality	11
Ch. 2	Complex Systems and Mechanistic Explanations	17
1	Mechanistic Explanation	17
2	Decomposition and Localization	23
3	Hierarchy and Organization	27
4	Conclusion: Failure of Localization	31
Pt. II	Emerging Mechanisms
	Introduction	35
Ch. 3	Identifying the Locus of Control	39
1	Introduction: Identifying System and Context	39
2	External Control: The Environment as a Control	41
3	Internal Control: The System as a Control	47
4	Fixing on a Locus of Control: The Cell in Respiration	51
5	Conclusion: Localization of Function	59
Ch. 4	Direct Localization	63
1	Introduction: Relocating Control	63
2	Phrenology and Cerebral Localization	65
3	Competing Models of Cellular Respiration	72
4	Conclusion: Direct Localization and Competing Mechanisms	88
Ch. 5	The Rejection of Mechanism	93
1	Introduction: Mechanism and Its Opponents	93
2	Flourens and the Integrity of the Nervous System	95
3	The Vitalist Opposition to Mechanistic Physiology	99
4	Conclusion: Settling for Descriptions	113
Pt. III	Elaborating Mechanisms
	Introduction	119
Ch. 6	Complex Localization	125
1	Introduction: Constraints on Localization	125
2	Top-Down Constraints	128
3	Bottom-Up Constraints	138
4	Conclusion: The Rise and Decline of Decomposability	145
Ch. 7	Integrated Mechanisms	149
1	Introduction: Replacing a Direct Localization	149
2	Direct Localization of Fermentation in Zymase	153
3	A Complex Linear Model of Fermentation	156
4	An Integrated System Responsible for Fermentation	163
5	Conclusion: The Discovery of Integration	168
Ch. 8	Reconstituting the Phenomena	173
1	Introduction: Biochemical Genetics	173
2	Classical Genetics	175
3	Developmental Genetics	181
4	One Gene/One Enzyme	188
5	Conclusion: Reconstituting the Phenomena	192
Pt. IV	Emergent Mechanism
	Introduction	199
Ch. 9	"Emergent" Phenomena in Interconnected Networks	202
1	Introduction: Dispensing with Modules	202
2	Hierarchical Control: Hughlings Jackson's Analysis of the Nervous System	203
3	Parallel Distributed Processing and Cognition	210
4	Distributed Mechanisms for Genomic Regulation	223
5	Conclusion: Mechanistic Explanations without Functional Decomposition and Localization	227
Ch. 10	Constructing Causal Explanations	230
1	Decomposition and Localization in Perspective	230
2	Four Constraints on Development	234
3	Conclusion: Looking Forward	243
	Notes	245
	References	257
	Index	281

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